Cewens's review of Resident Evil Village.

Spoilers ahead. Interestingly, RE8 = RE4 + RE7, but RE4 + RE7 ≠ A Great Game. RE8 isn't a bad game by any means, the gameplay is solid and everything looks fantastic. Some cool bosses and a solid core plot, however the game feels oddly uninspired. They basically mashed 4+7 together but it lacked the spark and ingenuity those games had. RE8 felt like a bland, basic RE game hitting all the familiar notes. Lady Dimitrescu is a highlight of course but the House Beneviento section is absolutely incredible. The other areas left something to be desired for me though. I never found myself invested in the story or characters. Why is that you ask? Because Ethan Winters is the goddamn worst RE protagonist of all time. How the hell this voice actor got a callback for a second game is beyond me. He sounds bored, unenthusiastic and lazy. His writing isnt much better. Take a drink for every "what the" or "what the hell" and you will be more plastered than the walls of an interior decorator with alzheimers. His nonchalant attitude and the way he reacts as if he has never witnessed weird stuff like this before, refusing a solid offer for help in favour of being dropped into a hole with a monster, completely unfazed by his ability to reattach and heal his limbs, being trapped by Moreau for no reason other thank being a fucking moron. He is the worst! He is just the worst. So all of RE7 saw Ethan try to find a way to save his missing wife from the horrors of Louisiana. So in RE8, when he finds out that Mia was actually Miranda in disguise, does he ask about Mia? Heck no he doesn't! Even after learning that Miranda pretended to be Mia, later he still gets tricked by Miranda and asks who she is. Actually just an idiot. Ethan isnt the only generic white boy I'm pissed off at. Fuck you Chris Redfield. This entire messy, nonsensical plot could have been avoided if he just explained his actions at the very beginning, it makes no sense for him not to. Except of course, the trailers teased Chris as a potential villain so they needed to stretch that tease out until they revealed their ultimate cop out of him never being a villain at all, just a poor communicator. Then we have the two major reveals at the end, one of them you may have missed. Ethan is a BOW, which I thought was a cool reveal done poorly. I hated this reveal scene. But also, perhaps even bigger, that Miranda is essentially responsible for Oswell Spencer forming Umbrella Corps and causing the events of all previous RE games. That...is just silly. They just cannot resist cycling back to their stupid Umbrella story that they need to just let die already. Have little references and easter eggs sure but stop making everything about Umbrella! At this rate we are going to see Albert Wesker return in re9. RE8 is a perfect example of the effects of a weak main protagonist. You can tick all the boxes of a great game but if your main character isn't on the same level then it is all mostly for nought.